Precast siding panels are often used for the exterior finishing of residential or commercial buildings. Known siding panels generally include a facing panel with design features simulating natural stone or brick or other masonry elements commonly used for the exterior finish of buildings. The design features can be machined or cast. Cast features are more cost efficiently manufactured. The facing panel is either directly mounted to the building wall or by way of stand-off or spacer elements which are mounted to the wall. The facing panels are either suspended from these elements or permanently connected therewith through embedded interlocking elements.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,486 discloses a veneer panel with embedded mounting clips and a spacer mounted to the building structure. The mounting clips extend into the spacer in the installed condition of the panel for mounting of the panel to the building. Water infiltration is prevented by sealing the joints between adjacent panels. However, sealing the joints is labour intensive and therefore uneconomical.
A cast veneer panel including a backing panel and a facing panel cast on the backing panel and interlocked therewith is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,042,309. The facing panel includes at least one design element. This cast veneer panel may include stand-off dimples to create a ventilation gap between the building and a back surface of the backing panel. The veneer panel can be mounted to a building with or without subsequent mortar application between the individual panels and/or the design elements. However, in the mortarless application mode, infiltration of water between the individual veneer panels is possible, especially under wind pressure. Although the infiltrated water can drain off under gravity in the ventilation gap, it will nevertheless come in contact with the building structure, at least at the stand-off dimples, increasing the danger of water infiltration into the building structure through breaks in the building wrap.
CA 2,661,233 discloses a mortarless siding system of cast stone bodies with embedded mounting supports for attachment to a building structure. Water infiltrating between adjacent stone bodies is kept away from the building structure by the mounting support above and below the stone bodies. However, infiltrated water can reach the building structure at the lateral joints between the mounting supports.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,366 discloses a mortarless siding system of cast facing plates with embedded hooks for engagement with the hooking section of a spacer for attachment to a building structure. Water infiltrating between adjacent stone bodies is drained away by oblique edges on the facing plates. However, water infiltration due to wind pressure cannot be avoided and will lead to water coming into contact with the building structure behind the hooked on facing plates.
US 2009/0193742 and US 2011/0239578 disclose prefabricated wall panels having a precast body with embedded mounting element for attachment to a building structure. The wall panel can be used for assembly of a mortarless siding. However, water infiltrated between adjacent panels can drain through the mounting element towards the building structure and come in contact with the building structure.
Numerous mortarless siding systems assembled from pre-cast siding panels including embedded supporting spacers are known. In each, the supporting spacer is embedded into a rear surface of the siding panel during casting. However, since the spacer must be embedded into the siding panel, the panels must be wet cast and must remain in the casting mold until the material of the panel is set. Thus, the manufacturing process of these siding systems is relatively slow and uneconomical. Also, the need for embedding the spacer in the facing panel significantly limits the type of facing panel that could be used.